Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-12-10
SOAPS AND TOWELS
GRAVE RISKS RUN BY GUESTS OF
AMERICAN HOTELS.

The Perils of Using Cheap and Pasty
Toilet soaps--Disastrous Effects on the
Skin-Disease Germ I'm the Public
Wash Room.
The writer mas hal wide experience J
among the great establishments Of New
York, and in only two has found u toilet soap
thai was really of superior quality. Many
proprietors purchase cheap CASTLE and poor
cottonseed oil soap by the hundred bars
and cut these into convenient cakes. They
cleanse we'll and generally are free from
coarse perfumes and poisonous coloring mat
ter. But nearly all brands OF this class are
poorly made and strongly alkaline. They
not only attack the skin and eventually pro-
duce sores, but they also irritate the mouths
Of the pores and eat into the glands and the
oil they contain. Their use gives II clean
skin, but one that is dry, rough und inelastic.
Frequently, after few days, dried white
patches rise and fall of, the lips and nostrils
chap and II general feeling Of dneasineSs and
even positive discomfort results. Worse
than these are TIE cheap and pas,ty toilet
SOAPS 50 much in vogue. They are made
from rancid vegetable oils and half decom-
posed acid animal fats with impure alkalies,
i'll the shortest time and the cheapest manner
possible. To cover up their foulness or poor
workmanship, the manufacturer colors them
with brilliant dyes OF very dark dyes. and
with the rankest essential oils the market
affords.
A cake taken from a second rate Broad
way house is good case in point. 1t has Il
neat oval form, h strong but pleasant odor,
lathers freely, and is of handsome rich
brown hiie. To any but an expert it would
appear superior article, while to hotel
proprietor it offers besides all these attractive
| qualities, the far more fascinating element of
| extreme cheapness. Careful examination
and analysis show that the brown color con-
ceals slovenly workmanship, which would
otherwise be exposed, in irregular masses of
varying shade and consistency, and that the
| strong essential oils serve to smother q rank
smell of putrefaction and nauseating raw
materials. The amount of the oils is so large
| as to act as rubefacient and even an irri-
tant upon the skin.
The writer once experimentally rubbed it
on his face and allowed the thin saponaceous
film to remain ten minutes before washing
it off. On its disappearance he found the
cuticle covered by numerous red points inter
mediate in appearance between acne and
eczema, which lasted twenty-four hours be-
fore the face resumed its natural appearance.
Such toilet soap applied to women of fine
complexions but of sensitive skins would ruin
their appearance in less than a fortnight,
and would IN the long run produce a condi-
tion of the cuticle which would require
weeks of medical treatment to restore to its
pristine state Far worse would be its use
upon babies and young children. Their Skin
is finer and more delicate than can he easily
described. lrritated by such soaps it would
break out into painful eruptions and in 6
short while thereafter into running sores
The evils described apply chiefly to the bed
room and bathroom; those of the public
wash room are far worse. Here largel
cake is employed, and almost invariably on,
whose workmanship is 50 inferior that witt
= the slightest use 1t becomes pulpy or sticky
In this condition it does all the harm men
Y toned, and besides this it may act and FIRE
lquently does act as vehicle for diseas
virus and disease germs.
A person suffering from a skin complain
p or froa some blood disease, which manifest
5. itself il cutaneous disorders, ulcers or othe
y sores uses the cake, and by the mere frictio
I. Of rubbing loosens scales and pieces of di:
eased matter which are retained by the glu
= tenous surface of the soap These may Q
. may not contain the virus or the germs TT
4 ferred to If they do the next person VIII
= | uses the cake runs a serious risk of absprbin
the contagion and becoming a sufferer froi
| the same disease So bad ,Ire matters in tn
u regard that the ouly safe rule for a perso
solicitous for his beilth is to never use IL
] soaps supplied by hotels for patrons an
j guests, but to always carry his own wit
him OF to try fresh cake, no matter ho
great the temptation may he TO use tn,
which is freely offered i'll places Of public i
sort.
More objectionable yet are the unwield
y roller towel, the saloon towel, and the lor
!. and broad towels of the wash room. The
under any and all circumstances are a di
grace to the house that uses them and an i
suit to its customers The towel remov
Nv moisture from the face and haudS Ivy ru
n bing The friction does more, however, ths
ht remove moisture alone. 1t forces off scale
he pieces of dead skin, lymph from cuts Al
n abrasions, mucus from the nostris, perspir
l.. tions from the pores, pus from sores al
n ulcers, and anything liquid that may be e
rk creted from the body or may have be
thrown upon its surface. The fibruus al
interlaced structure Of the towel make il
marvellous receptacle and catch all for the
varied substances. They remain i'll its int.
IN stices until it is washed, and even long aft,
u unless it is thoroughly boiled and rubb
with strong laundry soap or treated with
RS velle water or chloride of lime 1t is all We
q, well for the first man who applies a towel
the class mentioned to his face and han,
the second man runs risk and the risk
creases arithmetically with each User
O. American Analyst.